Stolen pickup crashes in field, two bulls dead

BY Mark Freeman...

A 28-year-old transient believed to have been under the influence of drugs led police on a high-speed chase early Sunday that ended when the stolen pickup he was driving struck two young bulls in a Corey Road field, police said.

Corey James Elmore was arraigned Monday in Jackson County Circuit Court on a variety of felony and misdemeanor charges ranging from unauthorized use of a vehicle and attempting to elude police to two counts of aggravated animal abuse, according to the Jackson County Sheriff's Office.

The case began at 4:40 a.m. Sunday when sheriff's dispatchers received a report of a 2004 F-350 pickup stolen from a driveway on the 1900 block of Patrick Street in Medford, deputies said. The driver told police he had started the truck to warm it up and went inside for 45 seconds before hearing his truck drive away, a police affidavit states.

Eight minutes later, a deputy spotted the pickup speeding north on Foothill Road and attempted to stop it, deputies said.

The truck sped up Dodson Road, then doubled back to North Foothill Road and failed to negotiate the turn at Corey Road, crashing through a fence into a pasture, deputies said. The pickup struck two yearling bulls before crashing through another fence and re-entering the road, where the vehicle died and Elmore was arrested, deputies said.

The bulls' owner requested that deputies kill the livestock due to the extent of their injuries, police said.

Elmore was taken to Providence Medford Medical Center for evaluation before he was lodged in the Jackson County Jail.

Elmore was arraigned Monday on charges of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, attempting to elude police in a vehicle, reckless driving, two counts of second-degree criminal mischief, two counts of aggravated animal abuse and one count of driving under the influence of intoxicants.

He remained jailed Monday without bail for violating the conditions of his probation on a previous identity theft conviction.